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North by Northeastern Pennsylvania

I just want to thank Brian Fulton and my graduate school classmate Sheli McHugh for inviting me to speak to their Spring workshop yesterday. After driving up the northeast extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike under weather conditions mimicking the end of the first Ghostbusters movie (lots of lightning, some wind, and a little rain for ninety minutes straight), the weather was gorgeous yesterday at Misericordia University.

The topic of my talk was “Advocacy & You” which was a misnomer from the start; it really should be “Advocacy is You”. It was my first time using Prezi, an excellent alternative to the loathsome PowerPoint platform. Having rehearsed my talk for over a week (the lessons of Pres4Lib are finally paying off!), I felt very confident about how the talk went and at ease in going over everything I wanted to present. I really hope the attendees took away an idea or two from my talk; I’ll be waiting to hear back from the comments sheets to get feedback on what things stay, what things need sharpening up, and what things need to go.

Afterwards, Sheli and Brian took me to the Albright Memorial (Scranton Public) Library fundraiser. I have to say that these people know how to throw a fundraiser. Live music, food, and a band on a blocked off street? It was a great vibe and an excellent way to end the day. The library itself is gorgeous albeit crammed for additional collection space. Stained glass windows, dark stained woodwork, and marble floors and columns made me ask if it had been a church a couple of times (the answer is still no). With a plastic wristband and drinking Yuengling out of a deep plastic cup, we mingled with Sheli’s old coworkers and other people attached to the library. There were hundreds of people in attendance and I could not help but think about how amazing a fundraiser it was. I certainly hope it bulked up their coffers for the rest of the year, especially as the Pennsylvania budget shakes out.

In getting home today, I wanted to thank Brian and Sheli again as well as the Pennsylvania librarians and trustees (yes, this workshop had trustees at it) who attended. It was a great trip and a good start to the Memorial Day weekend.